"Reaching Out From a Common Experience" Greetings from a unique group of people - the retirees of the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The Laboratory Retiree Group (LRG) is a non-profit corporation which seeks to maintain communications with and to serve the needs and interests of retirees from LANL. If you wish to join our organization, an application is available in this newsletter. For more information, please contact our President Dale Thompson at [email protected] or by mail at P. O. Box 546, Los Alamos, NM 87544. LRG Officers and Board Members President: Dale Thompson [email protected]Vice President: Leigh House [email protected]Secretary: Sheila Girard [email protected]Treasurer: John Stewart [email protected]Board Member: George Best [email protected]Board Member: Norman Delamater [email protected]Board Member: Paul Lewis [email protected]Board Member: Bob Meier [email protected]Board Member: David Schiferl [email protected]Board Member: Erika Spallitta [email protected]Board Member: Cecil Stark [email protected]Board Member: Alan Wadlinger [email protected]Board Member: Patricia Wing [email protected]Committee Chairs Membership: Sheila Girard (505) 672-3497 Main Gate: John Stewart (505) 662-7158 Web Master: Paul Lewis [email protected]The Laboratory Retiree Group web site is www.lalrg.org . Vol. 23, No. 2 Summer 2018 Laboratory Retiree Group Newsletter (LRG) LRG is looking for two board members and a person to keep track of medical insurance affairs. Contact any of the people above if you are interested.
Transcript
"Reaching Out From a Common Experience"
Greetings from a unique group of people - the retirees of the Los Alamos National Laboratory
(LANL). The Laboratory Retiree Group (LRG) is a non-profit corporation which seeks to maintain
communications with and to serve the needs and interests of retirees from LANL. If you wish to join
our organization, an application is available in this newsletter. For more information, please contact
our President Dale Thompson at [email protected] or by mail at P. O. Box 546, Los
Mt. Kilimanjaro is the highest peak on the African continent and is a collection of three nearby vol-canic summits. Kibo, the tallest, rises to more than 19,000 feet, and is the most recently active. Mawenzi is the second highest, reaching about 16,900 feet. Shira is the lowest, only reaching 13,100 ft high. Mawenzi and Shira are both considered extinct volcanoes, while Kibo is considered to be dormant, and could erupt again. My goal was to climb to one of several “summits” on the crater rim of Kibo, called Gillman’s Point, which is 18,635 ft above sea level. Kilimanjaro is in northern Tan-zania, close to the border with Kenya. It lies nearly on the equator.
Although called a “climb”, the most popular route up Mt. Kilimanjaro (called the Marangu route) is mostly a walk, though a long and sometimes strenuous one. I made the climb in the fall of 1974.
Climbers must hire a local Tanzanian guide, along with porters to carry food, cold weather clothes, and bedding. The trip along the Marangu route takes a total of 5 days: 3 1/2 days up, and 1 1/2 days to return. As one of the shortest ways to reach the summit, climbers have little time to adapt to the high elevation and low oxygen near the top, and many suffer at least mild altitude sickness. While I was climbing, a group returning from the summit related that some from their group had developed acute altitude sickness and had to be carried back down by porters.
The Marangu route starts from the southeast side of the mountain, at an elevation of about 6,000 ft. At the start of my climb, I met Peter, from what was then called West Germany, and we climbed to-gether. The first two days were a steady, though gradual, climb, with the second overnight at an ele-vation of 12,300 ft. To here, the climb was really a walk, and our guides provided a repeated admo-nition of “poh-lay, poh-lay” (“slowly, slowly” in Swahili) to encourage us to conserve our energy. The fourth day we started early; our guides woke us at about 3 AM. After the short and restless night spent at an elevation of about 15,600 ft, both of us had headaches, were tired, and got out of breath just getting up. We started the 3,000 ft climb to Gillman’s Point in darkness, on a trail that was much steeper than the previous days. Though called a trail, it was loose rubble, and after each step up, we slid part of a step back down. We struggled to the summit at about sunrise. Winds were strong and steady, and the temperature was around freezing. Although the sunrise was spectacular, by the time I got to the summit, my energy was about as low as the temperature, and I could only endure a few minutes there.
Getting back down was much faster. At first, each step was nearly two as we took long strides and slid down from the summit. And we regained our lost energy as we went down into thicker and warmer air. That fourth day we descended 6,000 ft from the summit to where we had spent our sec-ond overnight on the climb up. And during our fifth and last day, we went down another 6,000 ft back to where we started. Our goal those days was, in the words of my German companion, Peter, to reach the hotel and have a “lager with lime”. We enjoyed them immensely as we celebrated and re-counted the unforgettable experiences of our climb to the top of Africa.
NEW LANL CONTRACT The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA) announced June 8, 2018, it has awarded Triad National Security, LLC the management and operating (M&O) contract for the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Triad Na-tional Security, LLC is a limited liability company, which consists of Battelle Memorial Institute, the Regents of the University of California, and the Regents of Texas A&M University with sup-port from Fluor Federal Services, Huntington Ingalls Industries/Stoller Newport News, Longe-necker & Associates, TechSource, Strategic Management Solutions, and Merrick & Company.
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Paul and Sue Elkins 1992 Trip to Alaska (2 of 3) By Sue and Paul Elkins, February 2018
(Photos are on page 4) At this point we started south heading for the town of Dawson City on the Yukon River. We walked around town and took a few pictures (see photo 8, 9, 10) before crossing the river on a ferry where the campground was located. The next morning we headed out on the “Top of The World High-way” (TOW) for Alaska, taking a few photos on the way. (See photo 10A.) We arrived on July 1, 1992. We had actually arrived in Alaska having driven only 12 miles or so of the Alaska Highway. (See photo 11 of the AK border sign.) Now in Alaska we headed down the Taylor Highway to the Alaska Highway, stopping in the thriving metropolis of Chicken, named because the residents could-n’t spell Ptarmigan.
We continued on south stopping at a road house and got a room, a log cabin (see photo 12) with no door lock so we put a box up against it. The purpose for our stop was to take a much-needed shower; it sure felt good.
The next day we continued on south and found a nice looking river that might have salmon so we stopped. We met a nice woman with two huge salmon, maybe 40 pounds. She said her husband was asleep but might help us when he woke up. When he awoke he did show us how to clean these big monsters. We asked him where we should fish, he said across the river by a big rock (he wasn’t telling us where his secret hole was). We tried it for two days with no luck. Went back and told him our sad tale and he told us his secret place but made us promise not to tell any Alaskans the loca-tion. I never did. We walked up and set up to fish it. The spot was in dense brush with barely room to move around. I had a couple of strikes right off but lost them. Then the big one hit and the fight was on. It jumped a couple of times and then went for a long run down river, maybe 75 yards. I got it turned and slowly worked it back up near me. It was all worn out. I was standing on a small shelf in 2’ of water. I had Sue get a quarter-inch rope and tie it to a tree. I handed her the rod while I put the rope through his gills and tied it. Next Sue took my place and immediately hooked one as big as mine or bigger. She played it for ten minutes and it finally broke the line. We gave up, took our King back to the truck, and cleaned it. Then we went to town for ice. We ate salmon for three days every meal.
We took the road toward Copper Center, and took a side trip to McCarthy, a tourist town at the end of an old railroad with the tracks removed. There is about 60 miles of gravel road ending at the Ken-necott River. The river is liquid mud and extremely swift with lots of standing waves maybe 3 to 4’ high. The little town of McCarthy is accessed by a tram car operated by hand. In the middle you think you are about to hit the standing wave tops. The tram car ends on an island. You have another tram car to take for a shorter distance. Finally on solid land we checked out the town and returned. Jed was glad to see us back again.
Returned to the Richardson Highway and went south to Prince William Sound. Saw big mountains and lush forest plus a very big glacier (Worthington) then over the pass and into Valdez. Did a little fishing for Pink Salmon, it was slow but we each caught one. Then returned to the Gulkana, fished for Reds, but no luck. I switched to King rig and hooked a good one. Gave the rod to Sue; she fought it for 12 minutes and landed it. It was 43” and probably was 30 pounds (see photo 13).
We headed out west and camped at Lake Louise (in Alaska) a few miles north of the Glenn highway. We took Jed for a walk across country and saw a moose cow and calf. Jed didn’t see it so we sneaked around her and back to camp for the night. The next morning we left for Denali National Park but stopped by Long Lake for lunch. We learned there, a man and woman were attacked in their cabin across the lake. They got out and climbed on the roof. The bear stayed on the ground. When it was on the opposite side the man jumped off and ran for a boat to summon help. They came back. The bear had got on the roof, killed the woman, and was eating her.
(Continued in the next Main Gate)
Pictures for the “Paul and Sue Elkins 1992 Trip to Alaska (2 of 3)” Article (on page 3)
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10. Jack London’s Cabin 10A. Sue TOW Cabin
8. Down Town Dawson City 9. Robert Service Cabin
12. Chisto China Lodge
11. Alaska Border At TOW
13. Sue’s King On Guikana
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Photos. Top row, L-R: View from hotel with two of Kilimanjaro’s peaks: Kibo (left), Mawenzi (barely visi-ble above the trees on the right); Early in the climb, Kibo peak (left), Mawenzi (right). Row 2: Guides and porters, with Kibo peak at left; Straw flowers are common at lower elevations. Row 3: The “saddle” between Kibo and Mawenzi, Kibo’s sum-mit is in clouds; Third night’s (last) hut, look-ing toward Kibo’s summit. Row 4: Mawenzi at sunset of third day; At Gillman’s Point (18,635 ft) on fourth day, L-R: guide, Leigh, Peter, guide. Row 5: Snow and ice inside Kibo’s summit crater; Going down from Gillman’s Point and taking huge strides that raised dust.
Pictures for the “To the Top of Africa” Article (on page 2)
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LANL
In
Memoriam
02-22-2018—06-21-2018
By Jack Clifford
Coffee and Conversation (and Breakfast)
1st Tuesday of the month, 8:30-10:30 a.m.
Morning Glory Baking Co. (Across from the High School)
Coffee or tea is paid by LRG.
Please, need articles for the Main Gate. Experiences, humor, travels, work.
With or without pictures. From a paragraph to a page and a half.
Donations to the LRG Legal Fund will be accepted at P.O. Box 546, Los Alamos, NM 87544.
Thank You from Matilde Jacobson
My name is Matilde Jacobson. I will graduate from Los Alamos High School in June of 2018. Next fall I will attend the University of New Mexico. I intend to double major in Biology and Medical Laboratory Science. My ultimate goal is to earn a PhD in Immunology. This scholarship struck me as particularly meaningful because I was selected by a group of people who have already traveled my chosen path of science. You know what it takes. Thank you so much for your generosity
Retiree Scholarship
(I to r) Erika Spallitta (LRG), Matilde Jacobson, Norman Delamater (LRG)
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